A Lost Hunter
by aperson1234567890
Summary: A Hunter employed by the Wycademy was sent out with his two Palicos to deal with a Monster preventing a research expedition from properly exploring a mountainous region that has remained untouched for years. However, things don't quite goes as planned for the Hunter, as he and his Palicos are left lost in a strange place, unable to contact the Wycademy.


_***INSERT OBLIGATORY FIRST FANFIC STATEMENT HERE***_

 _ **So yeah this is something that spawned from boredom and time that I was supposed to use for getting things done. I didn't think I would actually post this here, I just wrote it to entertain myself. I've never taken a writing class outside of the mandatory Englishs classes and I now have an even greater respect for authors.**_

 _ **On that note, I WANT ALL OF THE CRITICISM! POINT OUT EVER MISTAKE! EVERY PUNCTUATION ERROR! EVERY MISSPELLING! ANY IMPROPER GRAMAR OR RUN ON SENTENCES! SHOW ME WHAT I NEED TO IMPROVE! IF YOU THINK THE STORY IS TERRIBLE, TELL ME WHY IT'S TERRIBLE! HIT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU HAVE! I WILL ADAPT TO COMPENSATE!**_

 _ **That out of the way, I hope you like what I've written and please do take the time to tell me where I can improve! Thank you!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: Neither Monster Hunter (or any of its crossover DLCs that may be referenced) nor Undertale belong to me. They belong to Capcom (and the various other companies) and Toby Fox respectively.**_

"Talking"

' _Thinking'_

Zagorath was really not liking how today was turning out. It had started out normal enough, he woke up in his house in Bherna village and prepared for the day. He was a Hunter for the Wycademy and was one of the few that worked directly for them rather than one of the other Hunter Guilds. As such he was required to do any work they needed done; whether it be slaying or capturing monsters, or gathering and delivering rare items found in remote or dangerous locations, whatever it may be, he had to do it. He also had to help the villages in the vicinity with any problems they may be having. Thankfully he didn't have to do this alone, the Wycademy had several other Hunters under its employ, and many of the Guild Hunters that pass through often enjoy helping with the work. If no other Hunters were available to help he was permitted to bring two Palicos with him. Palicos are members of a sentient race of bipedal cat-like creatures called Felynes that have been trained as hunters and makeup for their lesser physical strength with a multitude of gadgets used for offense, defense, and to support their allies. They are often found working with Human or Wyverian Hunters providing specialized support while the Human or Wyverian Hunters act as the heavy hitters.

Now however, Zagorath found himself wondering -not for the first time- just why he decided to be a Hunter, as he quickly moved out of the path of an incoming fireball only to have to immediately roll to the side to avoid being being bit by a massive set of steel crushing jaws. The Wycademy had issued an urgent quest to all available Hunters -which consisted of just himself- to hunt an aggressive Dreadking Rathalos that had been preventing several of their expedition teams from charting out and cataloging an unexplored mountainous region that had been selected as the Wycademy's next research project. So here he was with his two Palicos Gilbert and Hinata, cursing his misfortune of being the only man available. Usually a deviant monster such as a Dreadking Rathalos would warrant sending no less than four Hunters or at minimum teo Hunters and teo Palicos. Unfortunately it would just be him and his two Palicos. Now while he had and could kill a Dreadking on his own, it would be a long and difficult fight and he was unsure he would've been able to do it if he hadn't been skilled in using the Adept Style with his bow. Which revolved around the principle of dodging attacks and then dealing powerful counters. He had tracked down and marked the Dreadking easily enough and began the difficult task of actually killing the thing.

He had been firing volley after volley of javelin sized arrows into the Dreadking for about 15 minutes when he heard a loud "RURDUN" sound come from the Wycademy scout balloon watching his progress from the distance. Zagorath sighed, he knew what that sound meant and it was the last thing he needed now. That was a signal that meant a large monster had entered the immediate vicinity of a Hunter and unless they were quick to hide, combat was imminent. He looked at the Rathalos. Its attention was currently locked on Hinata- who was doing an admirable job of dodging fireballs and tail swipes and was throwing sharpened boomerangs at its wings while she slowly moved in to attack at close range- and seeing his moment of opportunity, Zagorath turned to identify the new monster and assess its threat level.

Upon seeing the intruder Zagorath's heart sank and he made a mental note to himself to never accept another urgent quest solo. It was a large brute wyvern with green skin, and with enough teeth that they spilled out onto the jaw, there were several rows of fang-like spike running down the length of its body at different angles, several spots along its back glowed an eerie red color that seemed to pulse to some unheard beat. The beast closed the distance quickly and leaned back, raising its upper body skyward and let out a loud, guttural roar. Zagorath hated that roar, it belonged to a species of monster that has given hundreds of newly appointed High-Rank Hunters nightmares and has even left veteran Hunters- including some that have slain Elder Dragons- to have cases of PTSD. It was known as a Deviljho.

Zagorath eyed the red patches on its back and hoped dearly that it didn't mean what he was afraid it meant but wasn't given a chance to continue his thoughts as he was forced into action as the Deviljho charged.

The resulting three way battle would've looked liked madness to anyone anyone watching it and Zagorath would have been willing to confirm that it was just as bad as it looked. The battle shifted from bad to worse after Deviljho fired its dragon breath at the Dreadking powerful red and black cloud looked unstable with red lightning flashing throughout it as it shot towards the airborne Rathalos. It hit the Rathalos dead on and knocked it out of the air. After scrambling to its feet it let out an outraged roar and took off into the air with several great beats of its wings. It flew up to a considerable height and then dove straight at the Deviljho. At the last moment it reared back and extended its taloned feet and hit the Deviljho talon first. The force of the impact caused the Deviljho to slam into a nearby cliff face creating a cascade of rocks smashed off from the force of the impact. The Rathalos launched a high power fireball at the stunned Deviljho causing a large amount of dust and smoke to fill the area and it then flew back to watch for any movement. After about 10 seconds of silence the Rathalos seemed to give off an aura of satisfaction and believing the Deviljho to be dealt with before it turned its attention back to him. However, before the Rathalos could resume it's attack on Zagorath, a large booming sound was heard followed by an even louder more guttural roar was heard. When the dust cleared Zagorath's earlier worries were proven to have been correct. From the Deviljho's mouth a black cloud with was being emitted and it was completely covering its head making it impossible to see its skin, There was red lightning flickering throughout the cloud and all that could be seen from beneath were two glowing red dots where the Deviljho's eyes would be. This wasn't just any Deviljho, it was a Savage Deviljho, on the verge of starvation its desperation for food has driven it into a berserker like state.

This was where Zagorath drew the line, he was NOT fighting a Savage Deviljho and a Dreadking Rathalos at the same time. While the monsters were distracted by each other, he drew an arrow and used its metal head to reflect the sunlight and signal flash an SOS to the Scout Balloon.

"Meowster, look out!"

Zagorath looked up hearing Gilbert's warning and saw the Deviljho's tail whipping right at him.

' _Crap!'_

He tried to do an Adept dodge but mistimed it and took the hit directly. Zagorath managed to struggle to his feet after being launched a good 6 meters. He really hated how Gunner armor only offered half the protection that Blademaster armor did, that hit _hurt_. He needed a place that he could hide in for a moment so he could heal and plan. He quickly scans the area for any potential locations and spots an entrance to a small cave revealed when the Deviljho was slammed into the cliff face. Zagorath gave a quick whistle, signaling to his Palicos to follow him, and took off towards the cave.

The trio were just over halfway to the cave when things once again took a turn for the worse. The Dreadking had had enough and took to the air, flying off into the distance. Its primary target gone, the Deviljho turned to the only other living things on the ridge, which happened to be Zagorath and his group. It reared back and let out a guttural roar.

"Faster! Faster! Faster! We need to go faster!" Zagorath yelled, urging his Palicos to go faster while increasing his own speed. "We're almost there! Just a little further! We can make it!" he continued yelling encouragement, trying to egg the two Felynes to even greater speeds.

However, in his mind Zagorath knew it wouldn't be enough. At their current speed the Deviljho would intercept them with roughly a quarter of the distance from the cave. He let out a mental sigh and thought to himself, 'why can things never be easy?'

Zagorath stopped running and turned to face the Deviljho. Unslinging his bow, he grabbed several of the javelin-sized arrows from his quiver and nocked them to the string in one smooth motion.

"Meowster!" He heard Hinata yell from where the were running.

"Keep going!" He shouted, "I'm going to distract it while you get to the cave!" He drew back the string and took aim at the Deviljho. His bow was a Heaven's Manna, a fully upgraded bow made from Mizutsune parts. With a draw weight of 440 lbs it was a little less powerful than most bows, though it covered that weakness by being able to use a good number of arrow coatings and being able to fire more arrows at once than a majority of the other bows. He usually only used against monsters weak to the water element that the Mizutsune parts infused into his bow granted. Unfortunately Deviljho aren't particularly weak to water, and with its hide being stronger than steel and a bow not made for power, it would take hundreds of arrows to bring it down. Zagorath didn't think he could avoid getting hit long enough to manage that, he was low on medical supplies from the Dreadking and with this Deviljho in a hunger-driven berserker state he wouldn't be able to drive it off, it would just keep attacking with no concern to self preservation.

Zagorath sighed once more and let the Deviljho close in a little more before releasing the string and letting the arrows fly. Five arrows streaked towards the Brute Wyvern, closing the gap in seconds, they impacted in its lower jaw. While they didn't pierce very deep, the force of the massive arrows hitting caused the beast to stagger back head rearing.

Behind his helmet Zagorath's eyes widened, ' _That did a lot more than I expected. I probably caught it off guard.'_ He readied another volley of arrows as the Deviljho regained its balance and roared at him again.

Thus began a dance of death as Zagorath maneuvered around the Deviljho's attacks using rolls and Adept Style dodges all the while firing volley after volley unrelentingly into the beast.

"Meowster!" He heard two voices cry out. Glancing over in the direction it came from he saw both Hinata and Gilbert standing by the mouth of the cave, waving their arms to get his attention.

Seeing that the two Felynes had reached their destination Zagorath readied himself to follow and came up with a plan to disengage from the Deviljho. He fired four volleys of arrows into the back of the towering Wyvern's left knee. The force of the arrows caused its knee to fold up and the monster collapsed as the sudden lack of support left it unbalanced. As the green Brute Wyvern struggled to regain its footing, Zagorath saw his chance. He slung his bow and locked it into the hook on his back to hold it in place, and began sprinting to the cave.

About two thirds the way to the cave Zagorath heard an angry roar from behind him, glancing over his shoulder he saw that the Deviljho was back on its feet and somehow managed to look even angrier than before. He pushed himself even harder as he heard the thunderous footsteps of the Wyvern closing in on him.

100ft from the cave... 75ft…. 50ft, the footfalls were almost deafening. Hinata and Gilbert were gesturing frantically at him from just inside the opening. 25ft, he was almost there! 18ft, glancing behind him he sees the Deviljho begin to rear back preparing to snap forward in a lunge. 10ft, the Monster reaches its peak, seeing this Zagorath takes two more strides and crotches down bunching his legs beneath him and as the beast lunges forward with its massive jaws opened wide he throws himself forward the remaining distance in a desperate dive often referred to as the "Superman" by other Hunters.

As he hits the ground he hears a loud smashing sound and he feels the ground beneath him tremble. Hinata and Gilbert each grab one of his arms and pull him further into the cave away from the opening. Looking towards the opening he sees the Deviljho trying to push its head inside to get to them.

"Are mew alright Meowster? That was really close." Gilbert said worriedly while hastily checking him over for injuries.

"Yeah… Yeah... I'll be fine," Zagorath said as he panted, trying to catch his breath from his furious sprint.

"Mew really had us worried there Meowster, purrlease don't pull something like that again." Gilbert sighed and stepped back having finished his checks. "You're lucky mew didn't get seriously hurt."

"Yeah Meowster if mew had gotten hurt I would have had to show that mean old meownster what fur!" Hinata said strongly, "and I would be the one furrced to tell Lily that you got hurt and I really like living!"

Zagorath chuckled as he thinks of his longtime friend and Prowler. Lily was very protective of her friends and anything that threatened one of them would be on the receiving end of a rage of such magnitude it is without rival.

"How do you think she's going to tell her what mew did Meowster."

Zagorath stopped chucking and he felt a sudden chill as a shudder of fear shot down his spine. "H-hey now… L-lets not think about doing anything hasty here…" he said nervously. Uhhh… if you promise not to tell I treat you both to an all-you-can-eat Buffet."

The two Felynes looked at each for a moment. Coming to a silent agreement ,they both turned back to him and nodded.

"Aright Meowster. Mew have a deal." Hinata said for the two of them.

Zagorath breathed a mental sigh of relief. "Anyway," he said trying to change the subject. "We should be safe in here for awhile We may even be able to wait here until the Deviljho leaves to find bigger prey." After he finished speaking he pulled out one of his few remaining Mega Potions and started to drink.

Once he was finished with the medicinal drink and the side effect of involuntary muscle clenching had passed, he tucked the empty bottle back into his item pouch and looked around. The cave didn't really deserve to be called as such, it was more of a small hollow in the cliff. Only running about 14ft into the mountain, the roof was just high enough that Zagorath could stand and wide enough that he could lay down. The only unique features being a large hole in the the back end of the small cave, descending into a deep darkness and he was unable to tell how deep it went. Curious he picked up a nearby stone and walked over to the opening. He dropped the rock on and listened for when it hit the bottom. After 12 seconds of nothing he heard the faint sound of it finally reaching the bottom.

"That's pretty deep," he said,"looks like that's out for an exit."

"Uh M-Meowster…" Gilbert suddenly says, drawing his attention. Raising his head to look at him he sees Gilbert wide eyed and pointing with a slightly trembling arm at something behind him.

Zagorath whipped his head around to look over behind him and his eyes widened as his heart sank. It was official, today was the worst.

Outside the cave, Zagorath could see the Deviljho charging up its breath attack. With nowhere to go the attack would be devastating. Zagorath sprung to his feet and made a decision. Running toward the back of the cave, he grabbed the two Felynes as he ran past and held them under each arm. He dove into the hole at the back of the cave as he heard the Deviljho release its attack. Looking up as he fell, he could see the dark cloud of energy fill the cave and then go the only other place it could, down the hole with him. Turning in the air, he maneuvered the two Felynes under him and against his chest, he then curled around them as best he could to shield them from the attack. Less than a second later, the wave of raw energy arrived. He was completely engulfed in the unstable cloud of dragon elemental energy, it burned the few patches of uncovered skin he had, threw him around as he fell, and he could feel it starting to eat away at his armor. It only lasted for about five seconds but it felt like an eternity to Zagorath, after the cloud had finally passed he thought to himself. ' _Well, at least I'll have the_ record _for the longest time exposed to Jho's Dragon Breath.'_ As his world shifted to black and he drifted into unconsciousness.

 **_**

 _ **This will update randomly. I only write when in certain moods. So... sorry about that. I will finish it though, even if I lose interest I will follow through with what I started. At the very least I write a summary and my summaries aren't really "summaries" they turn into pseudo stories. So there will at least be that.**_

_**Hunter's Notes:**_

 **Hunters** : Primarily consisting of humans, hunters are trained to fight against the many large beasts that inhabit the land, seas, and skies. Most Hunters are genetically superior to normal people as they are the descendants of the original Hunters created by the now extinct Ancient Civilization. As such they are physically stronger, faster, heal at a much higher rate, have denser bones, and are overall far more durable than a normal person. While normal people can become Hunters they would be unable to wield a majority of the weapons fielded by Hunters and would be unable to realistically fight larger monsters, as many of the hits that Hunters take and walk off would shatter the bones of most.

* **Rathalos** : A large species of flying wyvern known for its red coloration, spiked tail and wings, venomous claws, and ability to shoot fireballs. All Rathalos are male with the female counterpart being known as a Rathian and having a different appearance.

 **Dreadking Rathalos:** A deviant Rathalos that is stronger than a normal Rathalos in everyday. Their fire in considerably hotter, they possess a much more potent venom, they are larger and physically stronger than normal Rathalos.

 **Deviant Monsters** : Deviants are monsters that have survived multiple encounters and engagements with Hunters and have undergone drastic adaptations to better allow them to fight Hunters.

 **Flying Wyvern** : Large Wyverns that are known for their winged upper appendages and two legs. They often remain airborne for combat to the annoyance of many Hunters but can be brought down by well timed flash bombs. Many are surprisingly nimble given their size and often overwhelm unprepared/unsuspecting Hunters.

* **Brute Wyvern** : A wyvern classification for those with a body structure reministic of that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex with two legs and two arms that are too small to be used for manipulating objects. They are often well muscled and physically strong. The are often known for their powerful, wide-sweeping tail attacks and usually have powerful bite strength.

 **Deviljho:** A large migratory Brute Wyvern with green skin and with rows of tooth-like spikes running down the length of its body and covering its chin. Deviljho have a very high metabolic rate and as a result require large amounts of food. The presence of the Deviljho completely throws the local food chain into anarchy. Deviljho have been known to eat local species into extinction and they are usually considered walking ecological disasters. They will eat anything and everything they can, they have been known to eat monsters recently slain or captured by Hunters, it has even been known to eat its own tail after it being severed by blade wielding Hunters. While the Deviljho is one of the few monsters aside from Elder Dragons capable of using the Dragon element it is actually very susceptible to the element with it taking far more damage from weapons infused with the energy. If a Dragon elemental weapon is unavailable, Deviljho are also particularly weak to electricity and thus electrically charged weapons are also a good way to make the fight slightly easier.

 **Potions:** Medicinal drinks made by using a Blue Mushroom as a catalyst for the already rather power healing properties of a certain species of drink. It triggers a controlled surge of cellular division to heal wounds. When combined with Hunters already incredible healing abilities, major injuries heal in seconds. Honey from certain species of bee can be added to further enhance the healing ability of the potions and the result has been aptly called a "Mega Potion" by Hunters. However, consumption of a potion has a side effect, do to the surge of energy the from the drink, it cause involuntary flexing of the muscles in the body that lasts for several seconds, during which movement is impossible.


End file.
